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WildStar explores the design of Veteran Shiphand missions
Veteran Shiphand missions are coming to WildStar, and that's great, but their design also posed a lot of unique challenges to the design team. Those challenges are outlined in the game's most recent development diary, starting with a core set of assumptions that had to be true for these missions: They had to remain scalable, they had to still be soloable, and they had to offer appropriate rewards. This meant making challenging combat that could scale up or down for party sizes and didn't require tanks, healers, or pre-made groups. To settle nicely into the gap between other solo content and Veteran Adventures, the Shiphand missions reward Renown even for solo play, as well as various appropriate bells and whistles for higher medal performance. Renown vendors will soon sell variety of gear as well as social items to ensure that playing through feels rewarding. Veteran difficulty will also offer remixed elements of the missions to give players a taste of something novel even if they've been through the base mission before. If you've been looking for more scaling content in the game, this one's for you.
Tamriel Infinium: In which you're told that Elder Scrolls Online kicks ass
Welcome back to Tamriel Infinium, folks. I'll be your new writer, but don't worry about Larry. He's alive, well, and we're lucky to have him back at the helm of Hyperspace Beacon here on Massively. I've done plenty of dedicated game columns in the past, but it has been a while, so you'll have to bear with me while I shoot from the hip for a week or three and figure out what's best for this space. One thing I know already is that I dig Elder Scrolls Online, even though that's a pretty unpopular opinion in some quarters. With that in mind, let's poke fun at anti-ESO hipsters after the break, shall we?
PAX East 2014: WildStar's panel is all about the endgame
So what happens when when you reach the end of WildStar? You've got a while to think about it, obviously, the game isn't even out just yet. But it's an obvious concern. People are going to hit the level cap, and what are they going to be doing then? Staring at the walls, singing songs, perhaps clawing desperately at the metaphorical walls in the hopes of getting the next major patch somewhat sooner? According to the WildStar panel at PAX East, the development team is hoping to launch with a fairly robust endgame no matter what you're hoping to do. The panel went through pretty much every part of the game, from items to PvP to solo story questing, all of which is intended to work together to create an environment wherein you don't run out of things to do and don't find yourself forced out of what you find fun. How well it will work remains to be seen, but there's certainly a lot on the table to start with.
Paul Sage on Elder Scrolls' endgame
"When your character in Elder Scrolls Online reaches level 50," ZeniMax says, "the journey isn't over." This is good news for those of you concerned about Elder Scrolls' endgame, and creative director Paul Sage has authored a lengthy blog post that spells out the current post-50 options. Said options include solo or duo PvP, small group PvP, large group PvP, solo or duo PvE, four-person group PvE, and 12-person group PvE. Sage also talks up ESO's first adventure zone, an area called Craglorn that is built for a four-person group despite being the size of a standard PvE zone. Read all about it via the links below.
Working As Intended: Endgame is the worst thing that ever happened to MMOs
Endgame is the worst thing that ever happened to MMOs. I tweeted this last year, and it won't stop rattling around in my head. Every time a developer dodges concerns and leaps to his version of the "elder game," every time a reader claims a reviewer who doesn't get to endgame is irrelevant, and every time someone justifies a weak game mechanic because it doesn't matter at max level anyway, it rattles around some more. Endgame is the worst thing that ever happened to MMOs. Having an endgame, thinking you need one, and designing your game around it -- this is the core problem of the MMO genre. No matter how hard you spin it, when you create a game with an endgame, you create a game with an end... and not much else.
The Daily Grind: What do you like about the early game?
One of the reasons that I can't seem to resist rolling new alts is that they give me an excuse to become reaquainted with an old friend: the early zones. In my experience, these zones are above the cut due to a longer period of polish back in beta, a friendlier atmosphere, and a more relaxed pace. They also bring back memories of my first steps in the game, and I'm always up for a hit of pleasant nostalgia. Of course, that isn't the only good part of the early game. While we sometimes seem to be so focused on what the, ahem, elder game offers, there's something to be said about the charms of the beginning. So what do you like about the early game? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Perfect Ten: Obnoxious studio buzz words
So say that you write for Massively. Or say that you work for another news site while wistfully refreshing Massively's front page hoping to see a "we're hiring!" notice pop up. Or say that you're a two-headed frog that has a respectable blog that one head writes for while the other one eats flies. The important thing for this example is to imagine that you write news. Because you write news, a good chunk of your day is spent prowling for stories. Some of them you find while browsing. Some of them are sent to your email. Once in a great while your cell phone registers a call from California and a way-too-peppy voice tries to sell you on the notion of writing a 2000-word feature on a game that only the mole people have heard of. In all of this, you are exposed to a great amount of PR-speak. You see the same phrases pop up, again and again. You understand how words can be hollow shells wrapped around a complete lack of meaning. You start to go mad until your other head tells you to snap out of it and eat some more flies. So today you're going to join me here on this side of the news desk as we look at 10 of the most obnoxious buzz words or phrases that studio PR and devs like to toss our way. You could get really cynical reading this list, but I suggest that you make a bingo sheet instead to turn this into a fun game that never, ever ends!
WildStar's Jeremy Gaffney on progression, tradeskills, and endgame
In the first part of our interview with Carbine Studios executive producer Jeremy Gaffney, we discussed everything we could about the Settler path. In this followup interview, he divulges the beautiful details on essential parts of the game: progression, tradeskills, and the elder game. WildStar has been setting a fun tone with each new video that's released. As it turns out, that same philosophy extends to nearly every corner of the game.
Massively surveys WildStar's Scientist and Settler paths, the Esper class, and the crazy things Jeremy Gaffney says
So who wants to hear some cool stuff about WildStar? Thought so! Massively's Gavin Townsley recently attended a WildStar media event in San Francisco, at which he was treated to a hands-on look at the upcoming sci-fantasy MMORPG's Scientist path and Esper class. He also chatted with Carbine Studios executive producer Jeremy Gaffney, who pulls a Gaffney (I'm coining that) and can't resist leaking a bit of new info about tradeskills while filling Gavin in on how endgame will work, why we should play the Settler path, and whether talent trees are passé. If you think making 10 pairs of cotton space pants sounds boring, then yeah -- you're going to like what he's got to say. Enjoy all three articles plus the brand-new path videos we've embedded past the cut! Hands-on with WildStar's Scientist path and Esper class There is something exciting about taking your first steps into the mysteries of a new planet. I was anxious to mingle with the locals, analyze artifacts, and even pick a few plants -- that is, until I saw a flower burst from the ground as a giant vine-like beast. WildStar's Jeremy Gaffney on the Settler path WildStar's Settlers don't just build bonfires for sappy Explorers to sing around; these titans of construction will save you time in dungeons, establish bigger outposts, and open up new realms of quests for everyone. WildStar's Jeremy Gaffney on progression, tradeskills, and endgame Jeremy Gaffney divulges the beautiful details on essential parts of the game: character progression, tradeskills that don't suck, and life in the elder game.
When crafting community, little goes a long way
Yes, that looks like a typo in the subject line and it ought to be "a little goes a long way." It isn't. Little itself goes a long way in making a community, as discussed in this recent post by Eric Heimburg. Speaking from his experiences both on Asheron's Call 2 as a producer and Aion as a player, his core contention is that smaller communities decrease anonymity and make politeness far more common for interactions among strangers. One of the core reasons behind this is the question of reliance. The community of group-based games tends to be stonger than that of games where you can be almost wholly independent, since you rely upon others to work with you. By way of contrast, examine some of the behavior found in World of Warcraft's random dungeon tool, where you find yourself working with people whom you're statistically unlikely to ever see again. One of the laments about solo-friendly games is the death of community, and while that's not altogether true, Heimburg's post certainly makes a number of compelling points. Well worth examining if you're interested in building a community or just in the ways groups develop.
Developer communication as it affects games
Developer chats aren't only important when it comes to what players know about the game -- they're also important in how the players approach the game. That's one of the more interesting conclusions to be taken away from Elder Game's latest discussion regarding the interactions between developers and community. As Eric Heimburg points out, developers and community teams have two main approaches to dealing with their players, both of which affect the attitude of players and their perception of the game as a whole. Aion is his choice of examples for the first type of communication, in which the development team is essentially totally silent. The attitude is either complete silence, or denying that a bug is actually a bug. On the flip side, Champions Online embraces an open style of communication in which the developers loudly talk about bugs, system problems, and so on. Heimburg goes on to point out the positives and negatives of both sides -- Aion, for instance, creates an impression that things are working as intended even when they aren't. That works well until it becomes absolutely transparent that something is wrong, at which point the credibility is lost. Champions Online has a much more prevalent sense that the players should work with the developers and give them slack, but that only extends so far. It's an interesting look at a complicated issue, and worthy of an in-depth reading.
The hardcore language (filter) of Champions Online
While many folks we know really don't care too much about chat filters one way or the other, the rather overzealous chat filter in Champions Online seems to be causing some problems for players - and NPCs! Eric Heimburg over at Elder Game ran into some NPCs having their rather harmless (read: written by game designers) chat censored out due to the crazy filters. Based on his experience, he proceeded to spin an amusing tale of how he suspected the design and testing of that particular feature might have gone down to leave it in as touchy a state as it's currently in. The rest of the post - well, some will agree with Eric, and some will wish he'd stuck with the sillier things about the chat filter. He goes on to refer to Champions Online as being in its "death throes." As this also isn't the first time we've seen weird things get filtered ("Sega" in Guild Wars, "Depp" in World of Warcraft to name two old examples) we wouldn't be surprised to see Cryptic Studios crank the sensitivity down a bit. That said, if you've ever run up against a chat filter garbling your words when you're just trying to be a @(&*!%^ the streets, pop over and @(*$%^! moment into reading about this particular way-too-touchy filter.
Can Champions Online overcome launch issues?
Eric Heimburg over on Elder Game has weighed in on the state of Champions Online - more specifically, the problems that the game has been experiencing with new players, and some of the mixed reactions that the public has been experiencing. As a former design lead for Asheron's Call 2, he understandably draws some parallels between the two games, and speculates about where CO is going to head over the next few months and whether or not it can truly "take on" City of Heroes.It's an interesting post, and one that asks some questions that we think a lot of those who had anticipated the game have been asking. Certainly the game's open beta and release dropped with a much-muffled hype, and it's undeniable that the game still has a lot of polishing left to do. Mr. Heimburg might be a little more fatalistic about the game's prospects than necessary, but 2009 has not been a kind year to MMOs thus far, and he's had first-hand experience with a game that just requires a few bits of polish never getting the chance to finish polishing.
Is WoW being run by its B-team? Is that bad?
This post by Eric Heimburg on the excellent MMO design blog Elder Game, alleging that WoW is currently run by Blizzard's B-team, has ignited a fair amount of controversy around the blogosphere. The general argument appears to be that the people previously in charge of WoW, like Jeff Kaplan, have moved on to other projects. As a consequence knee-jerk changes are being pushed through very fast, without being sufficiently tested first. "Back in the day," claims the article, "QA held the game to a higher standard." My reaction to these claims are mixed. Kaplan may not be in charge of WoW anymore, but I don't think that "the steady hand has left the rudder," or if it has, maybe a less straight-ahead course is a good thing. Changes may be getting pushed through very quickly - Ghostcrawler routinely refers to players getting whiplash from the frequency of balance changes - but in many cases, I think this is for the best.
Balance not what it's cracked up to be
One of the truly sacrosanct beliefs in the greater MMO community (which includes both developers and players) is that achieving balance between classes is a necessary ingredient for a successful game. Even though the relative power of classes is liable to swing wildly depending on the latest patches and play styles, the goal is always to achieve that perfect (and largely fleeting) point at which classes are more or less equal. According to Eric over at Elder Game, achieving balance shouldn't be more important than making a game fun to play.While Eric's post was directed primarily at system designers currently in the employ of game developers, we think the lesson should be well-learned by players as well. Few things turn otherwise nice and friendly people into sniveling, pedantic jerks quite like the knowledge that the way they choose to play the game isn't perfectly balanced with whatever the flavor of the month happens to be. Isn't it enough just to have fun playing? Or is fun inextricably bound to one's relative power? We'd like to think that's not the case.
Cascading population drops the true MMO killer
One of the most depressing situations in any MMO is coming to terms with the fact that you feel isolated and alone, even in the midst of your massively multiplayer world. According to Eric Heimburg of Elder Game, this phenomena happens not because of any specific reason like a bad patch or lack of new instanced content, but because a server population has dipped below the critical mass it takes to keep a game functioning as intended, and players start fleeing in droves. Everquest II, he suggests, is in need of some server mergers if they hope to keep their population numbers above that important number.One wonders what is supposed to be done with a game like Tabula Rasa when servers drift into dangerously low territory. With only four servers to its name, it might actually be more harmful to the size of the player base to simply concede that a merger is necessary. Players have never been terribly resistant to bad news, at least if forums are any indication, so might a server merger act as another negative point in a cascading failure? At what point do you leave an MMO?
The challenges of early-stage MMO development
Brian "Psychochild" Green has up a post to his personal site discussing some of the steps massively multiplayer games take on their way to market. His article was based partially on a post to Elder Game we discussed here on the site early this week. Brian notes that the earlier post took the right tone: actual game development can be a sometimes-haphazard and often-confusing process. Roles are blurred, important steps can get lost in the shuffle.Mr. Green lays out the different disciplines that are involved in bringing an MMO to fruition. He moves on from there to describe a 'blue sky' version of milestones for a game in this genre. Over00's Dave Toulouse points out how similar these milestones are to your average software project's. For anyone interested in software development or getting into the games industry, the post is an interesting insight into the process. It is, of course, important to remember that the list is an idealized version of reality; SOE's Grimwell notes that putting 'Feature Complete' before the 'Beta' phase could be seen as a note of humor. "I'm not sure we've ever seen that goal accomplished," he states.
You know you work for a company destined for failure when...
In a recent blog post, Elder Game's Eric Heimburg takes a sardonic look at some of the more heavily worn bumps on the road that is MMO development. Without naming any names, Heimburg suggests developers conduct an intervention if their company meets a certain number of the criteria, lest their game join the cavalcade of mediocre to crappy MMO releases on the market.Among the more prescient of the criteria in this blogger's mind is the one where instead of having a lead designer, companies design by committee, or the one where the publisher imposes changes to the core game from outside. If only fans had a clearer picture of the way their favorite developers were structured, they could apply these criteria beforehand and weigh the odds of a stinker before sinking their hard-earned cash on it. Makes you wonder how many of these criteria Auran met before Fury fell flat on its face.
Experience modifiers are good, no bad, wait good, no definitely bad
When we reported early last month that the Destination Games team was looking to give a serious buff to Tabula Rasa's experience modifier system, it was then largely regarded as something to be happy about. Too many players were suffering from the attrition of climbing from tier 3 at level 30 to the so-called "elder game" waiting at level 50. Not only do the incentives to continue leveling dry up around that point, but the quests themselves become sparse and hard to link together.Well evidently, the fan community has decided in all of a week that the buffs to the modifiers are simply too much, and some have called for them to be scaled back, or changed so that anything more than 3x experience is restricted as a veteran reward or unlocked after leveling one character to 50. On this, we have to disagree. Allowing for the majority of players to finally make that push through to 50 will go a long way towards pressuring the TR team to finally implement a real end-game to draw people back into the fold. If they can't succeed at that charge, than they deserve to fail. We're OK with putting them on notice.
Behind the scenes of MMO game development
You may or may not be familiar with the "ghostly wolf" debacle that occurred in the World of Warcraft recently. It involved a pet wolf that would not have been able to be tamed by Hunters without some clever usage of game mechanics and some costly preparation. Blizzard confirmed that they would not be changing this, prompting many players to begin their time and money investments into obtaining a "Grimtotem Spirit Guide" pet. Then a hotfix was released that meant the wolf could no longer be tamed, and a resounding "WTF?!" was heard across the land.Sandra at Elder Game discussed this case, and having had experience as producer of Asheron's Call, decided to write a hypothetical story of what the whole ghostly wolf situation might have been like behind the scenes at Blizzard. It's a tale of miscommunication, internal drama and politics. The point she makes at the end is that it is extremely difficult for a large development team to work as a single entity, and that internal communication is the key to avoiding scenarios like the above. The full article is definitely worth a read, and gives an insider perspective on the sort of challenges these teams face that aren't directly related to development. Also, for a bit of history on the ghostly wolf story, WoW Insider covered each of the stages, from discovery, to the announcement that Hunters would be able to continue taming them, to the hotfixing.
